


The Long Adventure - Fable's Fable

by L_Palmer



Category: Fable 3 (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Adventure, Developing Relationship, F/M, Nightmares, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 09:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16060136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Palmer/pseuds/L_Palmer
Summary: As the Crawler's coming creeps ever closer, the Queen of Albion finds herself struggling to raise treasury funds. When caught in a predicament the most unlikely of Heros offers to aid her... for a price. After all, when is anything free?(Adventures of Reaver and Nas, covers themes of developing relationships, travel and mental health.)





	1. Dead Fingers Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is my first ever Fic, I'm open to any constructive criticism but otherwise please enjoy!   
> I'll post some translations and important notes at the bottom of the chapters.   
> Prepare for this to be a very long Fic!

_“Dead fingers talk”_ a dark voice whispered, hungrily, in the depths of her mind.

_“Dead fingers whisper._

_Dead fingers claw at_

**_one_ **

**_million_ **

**_eyes_ ** _…”_

The Crawler laughed.

Bile caught in her throat, the sound was so unnatural. A knot formed in her stomach and blood pumped loudly in her ears as everything crumbled in front of her. She couldn’t move. She listened to him over and over in her head, the Nightcrawler and his many threats. She tortured herself, replaying that laugh. Slowly. It was as if the being itself lived inside her mind.

The fur beneath her hand snapped her back from the thoughts, Samson had always sensed when it happened and sought to comfort Nastarana. She realised that proceedings had moved on without her, the décor had been chosen, but after that? Her mind had slipped, the niggling voices in the back of her head got bigger… to the point that they were completely impossible to ignore.

She looked away from the corner of the room and drew her attention to Reaver and Kalin. Nastarana looked at Kalin, she could see the overflowing attacks of the Crawler had taken their toll. Her eyes were dark, bags underneath them. In Kalin’s visits to the castle she’d spoken about how she was also afflicted by the Crawler’s touch; the nightmares, the quiet voices. The knowledge that someone else had these symptoms… Kalin’s conversations always made her feel saner. Nas could see Kalin’s eyes had turned increasingly more troubled through the proceeding. Her jaw clenched, and arms crossed as Reaver delivered his proposal.

In comparison Reaver seemed decidedly calmer. He stood in front of Nas with his usual pompous stance, his white suit and black top hat overly theatrical. “There is an abandoned mine in the Auroran desert that holds enough materials to benefit the whole kingdom.”

Nat studied his face, it was filled with such a devilish glee at the idea of his plans coming to fruition. _How some hero’s fall_ , she thought. Sparrow had told Nas many of her secrets in the time that she remained alive; those of which she didn’t Nas had found out just as easily in her mother’s study. Many of the books in the study revolved around the old Hero Queen and her adventures, but the one thing never mentioned was the identity of the Hero of Skill. Almost as a favour to the man himself, he seemed rather absent of identity from the books she had sprawled over. It was only when Nas was in the midst of revolution did she feel the strange energy resonate from Reaver, the stories flooded back, making more and more sense.

“Let us employ Kalin and her people to gather what resources there may be, that can be their payment” he retorted, placing his hands purposefully behind his back, cane tapping against the throne room floor. Kalin’s eyes were afire with rage. She narrowed her sights and stepped forward into Reaver’s face, pointing her finger into it. “You are talking about forced labour!”

The tycoon merely smiled, unfazed by her presence in his personal space and rather happily lapping up her distain. “Let’s not get bogged down in semantics” he purred, as he knew it would only rile her further “it’s a fair _transaction_.”

“Enough” the monarch interrupted. Murmurs rippled through the crowds. Walter’s demeanour changed somewhat at the interruption, his worry easily picked up by Nas. Although she had rejected every one of Reaver’s proposals in the past, she always waited patiently for the arguments end before giving her ruling. Reaver seemed fascinated by this intrusion. His eyes darted to her as she spoke, now studying her movements with a level of curiosity.

“I will keep my promise. Aurora will become a part of Albion and its people will be our _equals”_ she stressed, locking eyes with Reaver as she did so “in every way”. His eyes flashed with a form of glee in riling a response out of Nas. Walter repeated the ruling back to the court whilst the Queen and Reaver kept their gaze. She felt a strange mix of distain and resolve when looking into the man’s eyes, Reaver on the other hand felt nothing but sheer delight. To him, a win in court would be a joy, but the prospect of games with the Queen would be most delicious.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Kalin said, obviously relieved. “You are a woman of honour, Aurora will be proud to stand by your side.”

“Court is adjourned” bellowed Walter, and the crowds began to disperse.

“Kalin,” the Queen called “you may stay.”

Maybe with a pang of annoyance, Reaver made a crude half bow to the Queen and began exiting the hall. _Well maybe not today your majesty, but I feel this maybe be the start of something most intriguing._ He turned back to see Nastarana put her arm warmly on Kalin as she whispered reassuring words. _Most intriguing indeed._

Nas threw her crown on the armchair in the corner of her chambers and flopped onto her bed. Although she was resolved in her decision today her head was occupied; the desperation flooded through her at the continually lowering level of the treasury funds. There was only so much her own personal wealth helped… if she bought more of the property within the kingdom it would only rile the population.

The days before the Crawler’s coming seemed so finite.

Her restlessness frustrated her. Walter, Logan and Hobson had advised her to remain within the confines of the castle except for social events. The proposal seemed ridiculous to her, she was a _hero_. She needed to be outside. Her adventures would not only allow her to gain funds, but the thought of wondering outside.

It brought her a sense of peace.

They had been against it. They assured her that any absence from the castle would be seen by the people as her ‘running away’.

She scoffed at the thought.

The very idea of abandoning Albion after everything she had fought for, it was such an insult. She agreed to their demands though, there was no way that she would be allowed not to. Just in case, they appointed more guards to her. It unnervingly reminded her of her time living under Logan.

She rose up into a sitting position on her bed. Samson sat beside her, tail wagging, waiting for her to move. He knew what was to come. Just because she had agreed to this, imprisonment, didn’t mean she listened. After being coronated she had refused to move into the castle’s main bed chamber, she felt it not her place as did Logan before her. _It’s nights like these that this room is a blessing._

She looked out of her window to the land beyond. Her land. The darkness of the night began to claim the sky of the sunset, Nas shivered at the sight.

She moved from the bed and began to change into more appropriate clothes. Her old mercenary jacket adorned her, having replaced the soft and embroidered material of the Queen’s jacket. She never was one for the finery that came with being royalty. She found during the resistance that the feel of the mercenary jacket and its woollen vest was a much more appealing comfort. Even now she couldn’t fully conform. To her royal court’s distain, she wore her highway woman’s leather trousers to every proceeding. She smirked at the thought of the nobility being horrified by their bloodstained existence on the throne, almost as if she were going to rob them of their gold herself. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to be noticed outside of the castle, so she changed into her bandit’s trousers.

The Queen set off out of the open window. With Samson comfortably in one of her arms she scaled the ivy with the other. After managing to get to the appropriate statue she opened the manhole next to it. She made her way through the tunnel and once at a safe enough distance activated the Guild Seal.

The flash of the Sanctuary was a comfort. “Welcome to the Sanctuary” Jasper said, just hearing the transport of Nas caused the words to leave his lips. Samson bounded towards his bed in the corner as Nas stood pensively, as if waiting for Jasper’s approval.

“Ah, Your Majesty, I see tonight is another of your adventures” he remarked. She wasn’t sure if Jasper wholly approved of sneaking around, but it seemed as though without Nas’s usual adventures he welcomed the intrusion.

She looked as though she was about to speak but Jasper smiled warmly and said “It is quite alright Your Majesty, Samson can stay with me until you are finished. I know how you like to be discrete.” She beamed in response and thanked him, Jasper handed her a hooded cloak and the Monarch dissipated in a shroud of blue hue.

Jasper observed his new companion, who happily began to sleep. Now he knew the Queen was adventuring he began to make tea, as he would every time. He sat with Samson, stroking the tufts behind his ear and simply waited.


	2. The Unintended Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the previous chapter! The translations for Reaver were intended for this section, sorry they're in the wrong place :)

Reaver shot the last hollow man that stood in his way. How he _loathed_ them. Not because they were any sort of threat, purely because they were the rats of the proverbial afterlife. They scurried around, appearing wherever they deemed necessary. Apparently, they deemed it necessary to be in front of him. He moved swiftly through the rest of what remained of Bowerstone Cemetery. A place not really cared for anymore, left to overgrow and degrade over the years. Reaver was not accustomed to wading through cemeteries in the middle of the night, usually he would have others do his bidding. However, the news that the missing Dragonstomper.48 may be found to be in a tomb was something he couldn’t resist to find for himself. The idea of the complete set was rather marvellous to him. Count Zamoyski was a pesky little thing, the thought that all those years ago the bastard held out on him panged Reaver’s ego to no end.

Once at the grave of his long-departed enemy he began to search for any form of secret tunnel or entrance near the gravestone. An hour or so passed and Reaver’s patience had thinned to breaking point. The thought of killing his informant brought a sly grin to his face, _oh how he would suffer_.

He was just about to give up when he heard gunshots. Very. Distinctive. Gunshots. Someone had beaten him to it. The anger and annoyance boiled inside of him. Now he was very sure that he would kill his informant. _How terribly inconvenient_. He set off in pursuit of the sound, with his own weapon ready to be reunited with its kin.

After being led down into a catacomb irritating close by, Reaver found himself in a room of coffins. The person in front of him was surrounded, battling their way through hollow men. Although he was annoyed that they indeed had the last Dragonstomper.48 in their hand, he was interested in seeing how they used it. The woman was one of, it seemed, immense skill. Obviously not on par with his own. The fighter appeared to be handling herself rather well, but after a short time he began to grow impatient. He raised his weapon and disposed of the rest of the enemies in a very quick secession.

Nas had sensed when Reaver had come into the room. Although the man was extremely stealthy, the aura of his hero blood was something that radiated the atmosphere of old magic. She had slowed her movements, killing the hollow men more clumsily than her senses normally allowed. She knew how to hide the call of her blood through countless self-taught sessions in the library, but this is the only time she had put it onto practice. After Reaver’s ‘help’ she turned to him, placing the Dragonstomper.48 in its holster.

“Well I’m glad you finally decided to help” she remarked from beneath her hood, distorting her voice, making it sound slightly more common.

“I was rather interested in seeing your own talents, Bien-aimé” he purred back. Hot blood flushed to her cheeks, the sudden lack of etiquette a shock. She brushed the strange feeling aside.

“I didn’t realise it was so interesting to watch someone fight for their life, I’m truly flattered.” Although dry, the sentence came out slightly warmer than she’d meant it, through the hood she could see his eyes flicker at the sarcasm.

“Well” he stepped forward “as enlightening as this may be I believe you have something that belongs in my possession” gesturing toward the gun that lay in her holster. Nas smirked slightly.

“I don’t believe I recall it being yours” she retorted.

Reaver took a step towards her, as if to touch her. She stepped away. She wasn’t sure if her blood mask would be able to hold if Reaver initiated contact with her. She didn’t want to be discovered.

“Mon chéri, it may not have been mine before this moment, but it does now belong to me”. Reaver remarked. How he had not lost his temper and shot this poor girl was a mystery to him.

“How fitting your name is, Mister Reaver” Nas returned “To steal and to plunder, one’s mother would never give their child a name such as that.” The remark only added to the tension of the room rather than to resolve it.

“Well, how inquisitive one is. You make assumptions on my name” he began, getting ever closer to Nas, backing her into the wall.

“How could I possibly do the same” he leaned into her ear “when I do not know yours?” he purred.

At that moment she felt a surge of energy, a tingle through her spine. Her lips parted slightly. She decided it was too much of a precarious situation, she didn’t have the control. She certainly did not want Reaver discover her, too much to deal with among her other responsibilities. Reaver tried to remove Nas’s hood, she rolled out of the way, shooting a lantern of wisps as she went. The room descended with hollow men. Reaver made a last attempt to grab Nas but only found her cloak, which fell through his fingers. She made her way up the stairs, hoping the hollow men would hold off any advance Reaver made to follow her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So Nastarana was the name I came to in the end, basically it's a type of Rose (Rosa Moschata). No one is really sure of it’s exact origin but it’s thought it’s the Himalayas. It’s not known to be the most beautiful rose but it’s known to smell of honeysuckle and drift through the air. It also blooms beautifully in direct sun.
> 
> French Translation for Reaver:   
> Bien-amié = Sweetheart  
> Mon Chéri = Darling/Sweetheart


End file.
